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1877047 
Technical Report 
SISTER CHROMATID EXCHANGES AND TUMOR MARKERS IN WORKERS EXPOSED TO CHROMIUM NICKEL AND COBALT METAL CONTAINING DUSTS 
Baleux, C; Gennart, JP; Verellen, C; Buchet, JP; Toppet, J; Bossiroy, JM; Lauwerys, R 
1992 
EMIC/87563 
SUPPL 1-356 
English 
SISTER CHROMATID EXCHANGES (SCES) IN BLOOD LYMPHOCYTES AND THE SERUM TUMOR MARKERS CARCINOEMBRYONIC ANTIGEN (CEA) AND TISSUE POLYPEPTIDE ANTIGEN (TPA) WERE DETERMINED IN 26 MALE WORKERS OCCUPATIONALLY EXPOSED TO ELEMENTAL CHROMIUM, COBALT AND NICKEL DUST AND IN 25 CONTROLS MATCHED FOR AGE AND SMOKING HABITS. THE DIFFERENCES IN THE URINARY EXCRETION OF CHROMIUM (GEOMETRIC MEAN VALUES IN CONTROLS AND EXPOSED: 0.29 AND 1.10 UG/G CREATININE), COBALT (1.1 AND 23.6 UG/G CREATININE) AND NICKEL (0.58 AND 23.6 UG/G CREATININE) BETWEEN EXPOSED AND CONTROL WERE STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT. THE MEAN SCES FREQUENCIES AND THE PERCENTAGE OF CELLS EXHIBITING MORE THAN 15 SCES PER SUBJECT ("HIGH FREQUENCY CELLS") WERE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER IN EXPOSED (MEAN 11.1. RANGE 6.7-18.2 SCES PER CELL; HIGH FREQUENCY CELLS: MEAN 6.1, RANGE 0-12.5%) THAN IN CONTROLS (MEAN 9.0, RANGE 6.2-11; HIGH FREQUENCY CELLS: MEAN 17.1%, RANGE 0-61.3%). AN ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE ON THE SCES RANK VALUES REVEALED THAT BOTH THE EXPOSURE STATUS (EXPOSED VS CONTROL) AND THE SMOKING HABITS (SMOKERS AND EX SMOKERS VS NON SMOKERS) HAD A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT EFFECT. FOR THE TUMOR MARKERS (CEA, TPA) THE ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE DID NOT REVEAL A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT EFFECT. FOR THE TUMOR MARKERS (CEA, TPA) THE ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE DID NOT REVEAL A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EXPOSED AND CONTROLS. HOWEVER CEA SERUM LEVELS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY CORRELATED NOT ONLY WITH THE SMOKING HABITS BUT ALSO WITH THE DURATION OF EXPOSURE (PEARSON'S CORRELATION COEFFICIENT R = 0.25, P 0.01). AS COBALT IS ONLY WEAKLY MUTAGENIC, THESE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT THE SMALL AMOUNT OF CHROMIUM AND NICKEL ABSORBED MAY HAVE BEEN SUFFICIENT TO INDUCE SCES. THE HYPOTHESIS THAT TUMOR MARKERS MAY BE INCREASED IN GROUPS OF SUBJECT EXPOSED TO GENOTOXIC SUBSTANCES DESERVES FURTHER STUDY.